“Within 24 hours [of diagnosis] we found out we would never have children and that he was going to die early.”

Damage was done

It was only in 2013 that a new drug was approved that could successfully eliminate the Hepatitis C virus from Steve’s body.

By then, though, the damage was already done. Scans showed his liver was cirrhotic and a bunch of cells showed the early signs of cancer.

His health declined quickly in the last 18 months of his life.

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Media captionSteve Dymond speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme in April last year

In late December 2018 he woke at home coughing up blood.

“They took him to intensive care. He knew I was there and he said to me, ‘I love you’,” says Su.

“The last thing he said was he wanted those who had done this to him to repent. Then at one in the morning, as he was holding my hand, he left me.”

The inquiry

A public inquiry into the scandal was first announced in July 2017.

Since then, campaign groups estimate that more than 150 infected haemophiliacs like Steve have died.

The inquiry will consider evidence from approximately 2,500 people, most of whom were infected with, or affected by, contaminated blood products such as Factor VIII or IX.

Victims and relatives want to know why warnings about the safety of the medicine may have been ignored, why plans to make the UK self-sufficient in blood products were scrapped, and why many documents and patient records appear to have been lost or destroyed.

The inquiry, led by retired judge Sir Brian Langstaff, could last for more than two years.

Ahead of the public hearings, the government announced more financial support for people in England affected by the tragedy, to a total of £75m from £46m.

The Department of Health and Social Care has called the infected blood scandal “a tragedy that should never have happened”, adding that “the ongoing public inquiry was set up to get to the truth and give families the answers they deserve”.

Image copyrightFamily photo

“I want to see justice,” says Su.

“I want to see people called to account, I want to see anybody found to have behaved inappropriately, criminally or negligently made to explain themselves.

“Steve’s dying words were he wanted them to repent. I promised him they would, and that’s a promise I intend to keep.”

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